Madelain II Zigmar
Madelain II Zigmar was the tenth monarch of Rhen. She was known for the restoration of Rhen's international respect after the ill-fated reigns of her father and grandfather. Early life Madelain was born in 127, and in the first years of her life, her father Nicolas tried to instill a love of the arts in her— however, after the breakout of the New Saltsmoke War, Nicolas spent increasingly much time away from home, leaving the parenting to his wife and to tutors. This gave Madelain somewhat of a scattered and unfocused education, and so she spent her adolescence doing independent research and developing opinions separate from the Rhennish tradition. Madelain never expected to come into the throne, although she did have a close relationship with her brother, Prince Raphael; they often discussed their concerns about Nicolas' rule and hypotheticals about policy. Marriage Madelain married Maximilian Graezus, a high-ranking noble, in 148, and so she then moved to his keep in the city of Vestrous. They began to raise a family, but that process was interrupted when Nicolas demanded in 153 that his immediate family all return to Collinschwef and remain there. Madelain initially resisted Nicolas' demands, eventually leading Nicolas to send a military contingent to bring Madelain back to the city. Maximilian decided to accompany her to Collinschwef, so that she would not be trapped without her family; in Vestrous, he left his castellan Rudolf Warkow in charge. However, the stresses of the family's nigh-imprisonment in Collinschwef strained Madelain's relationships with both Nicolas and Maximilian; she spent increasing amounts of time isolating herself. The tensions came to a head with the Raphaelite Rebellion in 158, when Raphael went into open rebellion against Nicolas' increasingly paranoid and isolationist regime. Maximilian joined the Raphaelite cause, although Madelain stayed officially neutral; however, when the rebellion was put down in 160, Maximilian was forced to flee Collinschwef to avoid capture and execution. Reign Madelain ascended the throne to a poor and divided Rhen in 162. Immediately, she set about trying to repair Rhen's shattered economy by opening the borders and attempting to maximize exports. In particular, Madelain looked to enter otherwise untapped markets by trading with the Dorian Empire and with Vicra, which had newly expanded onto the Isthmus of Kenkor. This allowed the Rhennish treasury to recover throughout the 160s, and helped to establish Madelain as a capable ruler. As gold began to flow more freely, the wealthier classes of Rhen began to take to patronage of the arts during this period; Madelain was key in facilitating this, as she instituted several Court Artists during the 170s and began to export artworks in 175. The medium of pottery saw particular growth during this time period, and elaborately painted pots from the Madelinian era can be found from Selora to Ferix. Later in her life, Madelain became uninterested in rulership, and began passing some of her duties to Chamberlain Manfred Marsch; in fact, in 194 she moved out of Collinschwef entirely and began living in Vestrous. She lived out her days in Vestrous until her death, of renal failure, in 196. Category:Monarchs Category:Zigmar Family Category:Rhennishmen